The Brookhaven leader., 1887-08-04

That rccident on the Long Island raj
road some years ago came from the Fac
that the brakes were out Of order, an
when they wanted to stop the train the
could not stop, and hence the casualt
was teri &c. In all relie
ious discourse we want loct
naive power and propulsion
We want, at the same time, stout brake
to let down at the right instant II 10
dismal thing, after a hearor has compre
hended the whole subject, TO hear q mai
say:
"Now to recspitulste," and "a few
words by way Of application" and "onc'
more" and "hnally," and now to con
clude"
| Paul preached until mid night, an,
Eutychus got sound asleep and fell out o
window and broke hs neck. somt
would say:
Good for him"
would rather I've sympathetic Ike Pau
| and resuscitatc him. That accident !,
often quoted now in religious circles as
warning against somnolence IN church
1t is Just az much a warning 10 minister,
against proliXiiy. EutyChus was wrong
In bis somnolence, but Paul made mis-
take when he kept on until midnight. He
ought to have stopped at eleven O'Clock,
and there would have been no accident.
IL Paul might have gone on TO too great
length, let all Of us who are now preach
ing the Gospel remember that there Is u
limit TO religious Discourse, or ought to
be- ami that in orr time we have no apos-
tolic power of miracles
Napcleo IN an address OF seven min
utes thrilled his army, and thrilled
Europe Christ's sermon on the mount,
the model sermon, was less than eighteen
minutes long at ordinary mode Of de-
livery. 1t Is not electricity scattered all
over the sky that strikes. Tut electricity
gather in a thurd er holt and hurled, and
1t Is / OF religious truth scattered over,
spread out over vast roach of time, bur
religious truth projected III compact
form that flashes light upon the SOU and
rives its Indifference.
When the religions discourse u the
future arrives In this Ian ard in the
Christian Church, the discourse which Ia
TO arouse the world and star'ln the ma
lions and usher in the Kingdom, il viii
be a brief Discourse Hear il ull, theo.
logical students; all We just entering
upon religious work; all We men and
women who, in sabbath .aChools and other
departments, are toiling for Christ and
the salvation Of nmortalS. Brevityl
Brevityl
But remark also that the RELIGIOUS dis
course of the future, of which ! speak,
will be a popular discourse. There are
those in these times who speak OF pop
ular sermon as though h re must be
something ong about II. As these
critics are dull themselves, the world
gets the impression that sermon is good
in proportion as II is stupid. Christ was
the most popular preacher tho world
ever saw, and, considering the small! num-
Der Of the worlds population, had the
largest audiences ever gathered. He
never preached anywhere without max
ing great sensation. People rushed out
In the wilderness TO hear HIM, reckless Of
their physical necessities. 50 great was
their anxiety to hear Christ that, taking
no food with them, they would have fam
ished and starved had not Christ per-
formed miracle and fed them.
Why did so many people take the truth
at Christs handsi Because thew I'LL I'M
derstood 1t. He Illustrated his subject by
hen and her chickens, by a
bushel measure, by har dful Of
salt, by birds fight and by q lilv's
aroma. All the people knew what he
meant and they tiockel 10 him. And
when the religious discourse of the fut-
ure appears it VIII not he PrincetOnian,
not Rochesteriao, not AnGoverian. not
Middletonian, but OiivetiC-p! ain, prac-
tical, unique, earnest, C,mprohen siye Of
all the woes, wants, sins, sorrows and
necessities OF an auditory.
But when that exhortation or discourse
does come there Will be thousand
CLEAN ing srimctars 10 charge on it.
- a.rr
narles professors telling young men how
TO preach, Themselves noi knowing how,
and am told that if young man In some
of our theological Summaries says any
thing quaint, or thrilling, or unique,
faculty and students fiy at him and set
him right, and stra ghtcn him out, ana
smooth him down, and chop him on, until
he says every thing j.sJ as cvory body
else says it.
Oh, when the future religious discOurs
Of the Christian Church arrives, all the
Churches of Christ ia our great cities
will be thronged. The world wants spir-
itual help. All who have buried their
dead want comic !. AL know them-
selves to be mortal and to be .lAmOrtal
and they want TO helr about the great
future. l tell you my friends, if the PEG.
pie of our great cities who have had
trouble only thou ght they could get
practical and sym pathetic help in the
Christian Church, there Wolll not be
street in Now YOch, OF B.0O3lyn, or Chi
cago, or Charleston, Or Hhladolphia, or
Boston which would ha paSsghIe On the
Sabbath dav if there were n 'hurch on it;
for all the people WoG!i press TO that
asylum Of mercy, that graf house Of
comfort and conSOiaty6
A mother with dead b b l. her arms
came to the God Veda and asked to have
her child restored to life. The God Vela
said to her:
You 60 and ge a handful of mustard
seed from house in which there has been
no sorrow, and in which there has been
no death, ard | Will restore your child to
life"
So the mother went out AMI she went
from house TO house, and from home to
home, looking for place where there
had been no sorrow ANA wnere there had
been no death, bat SIN found none. She
went back to the got V"dI AMI sid:
my mission is failure. You see
haven't brought tn mas, 4 Il seed | can't
find place where has been no sorrow
and no death"
"Oh," says the god Vela, "unders and
your sorrows are no worse than the sor-
rows Of others. We all have our griefs
and all have our heart-bre lNe."
Laugh and tho world laughs with you;